Preview: NFTN — Horse Feathers, Tiny Vipers

Horse Feathers w/ Tiny Vipers at Tractor Tavern| 6/10 | 9 pm | $12 | 21+

Photo by Tarina Westlund

Horse Feathers’ lead singer, Justin Ringle, has a pleasant yet pained voice reminiscent of Damien Rice. Originally hailing from Idaho, Ringle moved to Portland (Oregon) in 2004 and eventually found the rest of his band-mates there. Sam Cooper’s Mandolin brings a bluegrass vibe to their heartfelt alt-country/folk music. The strings on most of their songs have the rhythm of a heartbeat and beautifully complement Ringle’s tender tenor vocals.

The instrumentation on their songs is normally full, but on songs like “Like Lavender”, where it’s just guitar and banjo, listeners can really appreciate the pure beauty of Ringle’s songs themselves. It is obvious that Ringle is a talented songwriter, but he will also ditch the tried and true formulas of songwriting when the song calls for it or to leave a chill in the listener’s heart.

Tiny Vipers is quiet Jesy Fortino. Her music is reminiscent of Cat Power, taking simple guitar parts and singing epic and unique melodies on top of them. Her voice is unique and full, with a deep largeness to it, yet you can hear delicate tones in higher ranges. When she goes into her upper range, it’s almost like a completely different person is singing – you can hear her stories not only in her lyrics, but her voice all on its own, just singing out, tells so many stories itself. In this day and age, being able to stand next to huge bands that have many members and create so many different emotions and journeys with just a guitar and her voice is really impressive. She has a strong ability to get complete silence out of the audience — her softness is full of strength.

This will be an evening of unique and skilled musicians pouring out their hearts, all for the sake of charity.

This video comes from a blog called La Blogotheque. Horse Feathers performed in the woods in Brooklyn, New York, and it’s just too beautiful not to share:

Horse Feathers | Starving Robins | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

For the complete Noise For The Needy lineup, go here.